Tear tape



Jan. 12, 1943.

F. E. FEHR TEAR TAPE Filed Aug. 21, 1941 tape and wrapper of Fig. 1;

Patented Jan. 12., "1943 UNITED i@ STATES PATENT 'OFFICE 'TEAR TAPE Frank E. Fehr, Akron, Ohio, assignor to Wingfoot gton; Del., a corporation of Corporation, Wilmin Delaware Application August 21, 1941, serial No. 407,707 1 claim. (o1. 229-51) continue it. It will be noted that the tape in Fig. 3 is slit at one end on opposite sides of the two invention relates to a tear tape to be vused in opening packages, particularly packages made of. van elastoplastic which is unoriented, such as a cast film of rubber hydrochloride, cellulose ethers and esters, polyvinyl acetate,

chlorideacetate, etc. The fact that unoriented lm does not tear in any regular fashion makes it impossible to use the ordinary tear tapes with them. The tear tapes of the present invention tear longitudinally and by uniting them to unoriented fllm the film is made to tear in a desired direction. y

The tear tape of this inventionis a composite strip which -comprises three or' more threads united by an elastoplastic. It is preferably placed under .the wrapper, but it may be adhered to the outside of it.

The invention will be further described in connection with the accompanying drawing in known as Filmtex which is manufactured by The 1 Filmtex Products Company of Cuyahoga Falls,

Ohio. Such a tape is illustrated in the drawing. Itcomprises four threads I which give the desired tensile strength to the product.

These are incorporated in a flat tape by folding a flat strip o f Pliolm 2 over them and uniting the overlapping areas of lm. This union may be effected by heat and pressure, or by the use of an adhesive. The' threads need not be united to the lm, but by treating the threads with a suitable adhesive they may be so united. The film may be ordinary cast rubber hydrochloride lm, such as illm about onethousandth of an inch thickl or it may be a stretched nlm, produced by heating the cast lm and stretching it ,to several hundred per cent of its original length.

Pliolm is rather difficult to tear, except that when a tear has been started it is not-diicult to central threads along the lines 3, 3. By grasping the portion 4 thusseparated from theside sections of the tape the film tears easily. The outside threads guide thetear. As the tab 4 is raised the film will continue to tear on each side' between the two outside threads.

Cast films, such as Pliolm, do not tear along a straight line. By fastening the tear tape of' this invention to a Pliofllm wrapper, preferably underneath it, the tearing of the wrapper is guided by the tear of the tape. It is thus possible by such a tape to remove a relatively narrow strip of filmfrom a wrapper.-

In Figs, 1 and 2 the tear tape is indicated by the reference numeral 5. It is wrapped around the package under the wrapper 6. It is fastened to the wrapper by heat and pressure or by a suitable adhesive. The edge of the wrapper is preferably cut along the lines 3, 3 at the same timev the tape is slit along these lines. f The slits 3 in the wrapper thus coincide with` the slits 3 in the tape. The tab 4 of the tape thus coincides with the tab 1 of the wrapper` to which it is united, .or

the tab 4 may extend out from under the wrapper in which case the wrapper need not be slit.

The overlapping plies of the wrapper are 'united by heat-sealing them together over the area indicated by stippling.

When itis desired to open the package one grasps the tab 4, 1 and pulls it away from the package. .The threads guide'the tear made in the tear tape and as the tear tape is united to the wrapper thewrapper tears along the same lines as the tape. In this way a narrow band of the tape and wrapper is removed all around the package, and then the balance of the wrapper,

with the two outside edges of the tape united'to it, may be easily slipped from the package.

What I claim'is: Y

chloride united to the lwrapper which tapeis formed with at least three guide threads running lengthwise thereof, one endof the tape being exposed and slit .lengthwise a shortdistance to form a tab which includes the end of atleast one of said threads between edges of the tape which also each include at least one of said threads.

A `FRANK E; FEHR. 

